We all know that we need to sleep for 7 to 8 hours a night, eat right, and exercise regularly. We know lean protein and veggies are healthy and that hot fudge sundaes, greasy burgers, soda, and licorice ropes are poison. But we desire those things. And when we get stressed, bored, angry, frustrated, grief-stricken, lovesick, tired, lonely… we fall off the wagon and lose control of our minds.
The idea is not to repress those emotions, desires, and fears – they’re all a natural part of being human. The lack of mental toughness and emotional resiliency when those feelings come up is the real problem. And re-training your mind to think well is the cure.
In this second decade of the twenty-first century, our novel, everything-at-our-fingertips, fast food-fueled and tech-driven lifestyle has caused more of us to experience “dis-ease” and burnout than ever before. This common way of living is literally killing us. A large percentage of the population has become unhealthy slackers, though they are not likely to admit it. And despite innumerous breakthroughs in modern medicine, exercise, and nutritional sciences, overall health and global life expectancy is moving in the wrong direction!
Remember when you had to actually walk all the way across the room and go over to the TV to change the TV channel? I bet most of you don’t. (I guess I’m dating myself!) How odd that idea seems now… even just using a remote control seems like a chore. You misplace it and have to search high and low, cutting into down time. Thank goodness we can now download a remote-control app on our phone. Having the technological equivalent of a super-computer in our hands 24/7 extends our mind’s reach, but at the cost of laziness, poor attention control, and a negative impact on positive mindset.
Also consider the effects of dopamine-triggering social media and doom scrolling network news. These are extremely negative and energy-draining, but train people to stay dependent upon virtual connection and hyper sensory stimulation to feel a sense of aliveness. At one time, we connected to our vitality naturally by being outdoors, connecting with others, moving our bodies, and eating healthy food. As humans, we are meant to experience ample exercise, sunshine, play, and real food from the earth – and we’ve been cut off from these essential elements of our own humanity.
One of my aims is to get people back to the way they should be living – back to doing real exercise, eating real food, and consuming real knowledge to shape their minds (as opposed to fear, disinformation and control propaganda). If you are suffering from some of these challenges, whether as a result of the pandemic or simply due to the relentless societal drive toward ease and hyper-virtualization, then there is no time to waste in taking back your power right now. You will experience an immediate boost in positive energy, creative thinking, and overall health.
Since you’re inspired to read this, you likely sense that you’re not living your best life in some way. So, there’s no time like the present to do something about it. It’s important to start your journey by nipping all the BS excuses in the bud. Below are a few of the biggest excuses I hear that hold people back from total physical and mental health, and subsequently, optimal performance:
- I don’t have the time or knowledge
- I don’t have the money
- My kids consume my life
- I’m not able to stick to diets or train consistently
- I’m too burned out from my job to focus on bettering myself
- I always get injured, or I get bored when things get repetitive
In my next post, I’ll debunk each of these excuses one by one and show you how to overcome each one so you can start living up to your highest level of human potential.